Gay Chechens, Attacked at Home, Find Doors Opening in Europe

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Gay men from Chechnya, who were persecuted and sought refuge outside of country, at a house in Moscow in April.CreditJames Hill for The New York Times

By David Shimer

June 9, 2017

BERLIN — Countries across Europe, including Germany and Lithuania, have begun opening their doors to gay Chechen refugees on the grounds that they have been persecuted because of their sexual orientation.

The German Foreign Ministry confirmed on Friday that it has admitted one man, who arrived in the country on Tuesday, on a special visa on humanitarian grounds. Three other men have met with officials at the German Embassy in Moscow, a ministry spokeswoman said, while another man’s application is being reviewed.

Officials with ILGA-Europe, a gay and transgender rights group, said that in recent weeks, several other European countries had also entered into discussions to admit gay refugees on grounds of persecution. But they declined to name the countries because to do so, they said, could put the refugees at risk.

“The crisis is ongoing, so we have been working on asylum, on getting people out beyond the borders of Russia, since staying in Russia is not a safe alternative,” Daina Rudusa, an ILGA-Europe official, said. “Some people have already made it out, but many remain in safe houses throughout Russia applying for visas and trying to escape.”

Gay men in Chechnya, a deeply homophobic republic, have long been at risk of so-called honor killings by family members and of abuse by the local authorities. But this year, the pro-Kremlin government in Chechnya began targeting gay men more aggressively after a Moscow-based gay rights organization sought permits for gay pride parades in the area.

In April, the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported that more than 100 gay men in Chechnya had been arrested, and that at least three had been killed. The government of the Chechen leader, Ramzan A. Kadyrov, denied the reports, as well as the fact that any gay men live in Chechnya.

Since then, human rights advocates have mobilized to help such men leave the region.

Officials with the Russian LGBT Network, an advocacy group based in St. Petersburg, said that about 100 people had applied to it for assistance, and that the organization was helping them seek asylum in other countries. They declined to give further details because, they said, they had received reports that Chechens had been tracked by hostile relatives in Russia and could be targeted once outside it by members of the Chechen diaspora.

Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and President Emmanuel Macron of France have pushed Vladimir V. Putin, the Russian president, to intervene personally.

“I also spoke about the very negative report about what is happening to homosexuals in Chechnya and asked Mr. President to exert his influence to ensure that minorities’ rights are protected,” Ms. Merkel said in May at a news conference in Sochi, Russia, after meeting with Mr. Putin.

Mr. Macron raised the issue with Mr. Putin later that month. At a news conference with the Russian president at his side, he spoke of the importance of respecting “all people, all minorities.”

“As for me, I will be constantly vigilant on these issues, which are in keeping with our values,” Mr. Macron said.

He said that he and Mr. Putin had agreed on a “very regular monitoring” of the Chechnya situation and that Mr. Putin said he had taken steps to “establish the complete truth on the activities of local authorities.”

Still, Evert Jan Jacobsen, secretary of the European Parliament’s Intergroup on L.G.B.T. Rights, said admitting refugees — rather than conducting high-level talks — was the most concrete way for European countries to help. He urged more of them to “issue visas and open their borders to refugees.”

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A10 of the New York edition with the headline: Gay Chechens Finding Refuge Across Europe. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe